Sunday, July 5, 2015

I have always known I wanted to make my own baby food. I have seen the small jars with big prices in the stores all of my life and they seemed over priced and a waste of resources. So with that in mind I did what I always to and went to my favorite blogs for advice.

I have been following Texas Tales since they lived in Scotland and way before they had QUADRUPLETS!!! I have always liked Amber's writing style and her ideas on travel, food and now parenting. (I also love her mom's blog Linda's Life Journal - she is so positive!)

So, I took a cue from Texas Tales and ordered my Mumi and Bubi baby food trays from Amazon. Each serving is 1 ounce so I can make a lot in advance and have it ready when Madelyn is ready!

So today I took 6 organic bananas ($1.33) and 3 bags of frozen Organic Butternut Squash ($5.67) and made two trays of food. So that is 21 ounces of bananas and 21 ounces of Squash. So that is $.16 per ounce!

We are hoping that along with the formula and the solid foods she will gain more weight and also learn to like food! We can start when she turns 4 months old - so in the meantime I will continue to make food and store it!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Wow! As of today at 11:53 PM Madelyn has been with us for 92 days. She is so much fun and I know all parents say this but she has a ton of personality and is a very social little baby. Here are some highlights of last month...

Meeting the Johnson Family and their kids....

Going to Top Golf with the Horen Family

She attended her first Memorial Day BBQ with Uncle Cris and Aunt Jess...

She got a special visit from Papa Mike and Grandma Cindy...

Aunt Deena helped pick out her first car...

I found instagram and love it! You can find a lot of Madelyn pictures at: dukechristi

She also can sit in her Bumbo by herself which means she can hold her head up!

And she rolled over for the first time just a couple days ago!

She continues to love bath time, she is sleeping really well through the night (9:30 pm - 2:30 AM - 6:00 AM - 9:30 AM) and her hair continues to amaze us along with her big blue eyes (still do not know if they will change but right now they are super blue). She LOVES blankets/burp cloths and is attached to her Monkey Pacifier - it's really cute!

Madelyn is amazing to be around and we love her more and more each day and appreciate how much everyone loves her too!

Hello! Wow, I cannot believe how fast the last month has flown by! Madelyn (and all of us) have been very, very busy!

{PETS}

She has been getting to know her furry brothers...

Hanging out with Jackson

Sleeping with Reggie

Getting to know Mini Kitty

{FAMILY & FRIENDS}

She got to meet Grandma and Grandpa Shotton visiting from Kentucky!

Meeting BJ visiting from Salt Lake City and thanking him and his family for all of the baby stuff she uses ALL the time!!! {THANK YOU Johnson family so much - we MISS you guys!!!}

Meeting Sam and thanking her for fixing Daddy's hair!

Madelyn attended her first Miracle League game to see Uncle Jon get his trophy. One day she will get to be his buddy!

We also had a very special visit from Aunt Carolyn from Indiana and her first Skype with her Portland cousins!

Madelyn also had her first "professional" photo shoot when Aunt Deena and Uncle Mark came to visit from Orange County, CA.

She also spent time with the Newf's and hosted her first Boxing Party!

Mike, Raquel and Madelyn

{ABOUT MADELYN}

EATING

She eats a lot but still is little but very long - she fits into 3 month clothes in length but not in the belly!

SLEEPING

She is a very good sleeper - normally she will eat around 7:30 PM, then 11:30 PM and then sleeping until about 4-5 AM then eat and play until about 7:30 AM then sleep. We both consider this great since Brad will take the 11:30 PM feeding so I can sleep from about 9:30 PM to 4:00 AM! She is still in our room and does not like her crib but it is so much easier to have her sleep next to us at night.

LIKES

Overall, it was a great month! She is such a fun loving little person and brings a lot of happiness to everyone around her. Everywhere we go with her people comment on her hair - every. single. person.

Friday, April 17, 2015

One month is in the books with Madelyn Leigh and she is truly a very special little girl!

Likes
Being Swaddled
Her bouncy chair
Sticking her butt up in the air
Eating (this is her most favorite thing in the world)
Sleeping
Snuggling on our chests
Her bath
The changing table - she gets soooo happy to be on the changing table!

The Texas Swaddle

Dislikes
Being buckled in her carseat
Being hungry
Getting dressed

Hungry Face

SLEEP
She sleeps for about 3 hours a time then wants to eat ASAP - in the hospital her nickname was Queen or Ms. Piggy and she had a reputation for needing to eat first then have a diaper change. She still sleeps in our room mostly because I am not ready to move her just yet!

Lucky for us she sleeps through everything - the dogs barking, phones ringing, television, people talking!

FOOD
She eats every two to three hours about 2 ounces at a time and it is a mix of breastmilk and formula.

PERSONALITY
She loves to be held and talked to and will make a ton of funny faces and noises. We love her "coo" face the most. She is definitely her own person and will let us know when she is not happy with what she is doing.

HEALTH

Today at the doctor she weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 21 inches (at birth she was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 inches). Her breathing doctor said everything looked good and she is progressing right on schedule. The next appointment with him is in July or August - which is great!

PETS
A lot of people were concerned about the dogs and the cat but so far everyone is co-existing great. The dogs are mostly afraid of her and will come up and give a good sniff and walk away. Reggie does like to give her kisses on her feet and occasionally on her face. The cat likes to sit under her when she is on our laps but we always make sure he is outside at night when we sleep.

ACTIVITY
We have ventured out to the grocery store, Target, Costco and a couple of our favorite restaurants that we went to when she was inside me. So far, so good at AZ88 (on the patio), Four Peaks (in a booth) and Oregano's (on the patio). Also, we have had guests over and she is in their arms the entire time! Until the end of May we will keep her away from any kid filled places to try and avoid her getting a respiratory infection.

AZ88

As for us, it is crazy to imagine our lives before she arrived. We work as a team to make sure she is happy and that each of us is getting rest, a shower, food and work done. Next up is a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Shotton then Great Aunt Carolyn!

Friday, March 20, 2015

She made it! On day 284 of the pregnancy at 11:53 PM on St. Patricks's Day - Madelyn Leigh Shotton made her debut!

On Monday we went to the doctor for an appointment at 3:30 pm and they told us that we would be checking in at midnight to the hospital to begin the process....what? We were a little surprised but we were ready to get the show on the road!

In order to get things moving, the doctor started a process that led to me having contractions at home around 7:30 pm and by the time we left for the hospital at 11:30 pm I really thought I was going to have the baby ASAP.

Once at the hospital I was admitted and given an epidural. That was my saving grace - I have never been in so much pain in my life - I was contracting every two minutes and could not see straight. After the epidural I was just fine! However, nothing was happening, a lot of contractions but the baby was not making any progress. So, after over 20 hours of waiting on the baby to move down (which she never did) our doctor decided it was time for a C-Section (we had also broken my water, tried stretching, etc). This was at 10:30 PM... my doctor arrived at 11:00 PM and realizing it was an hour until the end of St. Patrick's Day wanted us and the OR to deliver a St Patty's Day baby. Believe me when I say this, if our doctor wants something done - it happens!

After a LARGE dose of more epidural medicine for me the process began at 11:30 PM and by 11:53 PM we had a baby! Our doctor's first words were "We have a chunk!" which was funny because that's what we had begun to call her too!

Truly, even though the process was long and drawn out, I was not in a lot of pain (with the exception of the hours between 7:30 PM to 1:00 AM on Monday/Tuesday). Thanks to modern medicine, the baby and I were fine and everything went very smoothly. Now we have been staying at the "hotel" otherwise known as Scottsdale Healthcare Shea since Monday night and we will be leaving on Saturday, if all goes to plan! The staff here is amazing and we have been well taken care of!

Now begins the next chapter and we are already loving every minute of it!